From the President

Although March is the formal beginning of the touring season, the club's
touring program was surprisingly active during the winter months. There was
a steady offering of weekend rides. The Wednesday morning group doesn't know
one season from another and didn't miss a beat in its weekly schedule.

And then there were the trainer tours. Ride captains Cheryl Brawner
and Mike Pitt decided to double the number of sessions to two a week.
We all know that trainer workouts are a key component in the fight to maintain
conditioning and improve strength. They are an essential part of the elite
cyclist's off-season routine, especially racers who need to be ready to
compete right at the beginning of the season.

So what was I doing here? I can't remember how many times I asked myself
that question, especially on the nights we watched the videotapes of coach
Troy Jacobson putting his very fit (and very young) charges through their
paces. Hill, climbing, alternately standing and sitting in 30-second
intervals for 3-minute segments, was a close tie with one-legged spinning
as my favorite exercise. When I got dizzy, as I always did before getting
warmed up, Troy sounded like Eric von Stronheim shouting orders to the
Wehrmacht. If you think I'm exaggerating, just check out the title of the
video series: Sufferama! Fortunately, the wonderful
camaraderie of my fellow sufferers made the session fun.

But it's the promise of not starting the season at groound zero that made
the sessions worthwhile. Our own cycling poet Jim Kimmel expressed it best in
this piece he penned last year and set to the meter of Edgar Allan Poe's
The Raven.

Gray Days
by Jim Kimmel

As I wandered, weak and weary,
Attacking hills and paying dearly,
My thoughts fell back to dreary days,
When the grim gray gloaming grew oer the dell,
And my soul was confined to indoor hell.
Sweating and groaning and stairsteps unending,
Then stretching and squatting and gasping and bending,
All for this moment, cresting the hill,
Streaking past the woody banks down by the mill,
Knowing full well this moment will end,
That the peloton will catch me once again,
So that when the gray days return as before,
Inside I sit spinning and swearing nevermore!

Look for Jim and my fellow trainer-tourists tearing up the roads this
spring. I'll try my best to keep up and look forward to a safe and healthy
riding season. I wish the same for each of you.